8,473 Shares in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Acquired by Walleye Capital LLC

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 8,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Essent Group by 97.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Essent Group by 790.6% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT opened at $69.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.76. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.34 and a 52-week high of $70.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 483 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $33,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 198,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,891,430. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 40,320 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,422 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ESNT shares. Roth Capital increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

Essent Group Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent’s insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.